Notes: (*****) One of Yes's most controversial albums: this was the
first time that the band had changed two band members at once and
it is the only album without Jon Anderson. Yet, in some ways, the album's
style is closer to 'classic Yes' than its predecessor, Tormato,
with a style harkening back to The Yes Album.
The songs are much darker than Anderson's usual positivity and Squire comes
to the fore as the main composer; comparisons could also be made with Squire's
Fish
Out of Water solo album. There are also hints of what was to come
with "Run with the Fox" (see YesYears)
and 90125.

I should admit that I am a huge fan of Drama (and, with Anthony
Lawless (né Hobbs), coined the term 'Panthers' for fans of
the album), but many other Yes fans are very negative about it. So, the
following may be a biased perspective. Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan
White all play fantastically. Geoff Downes, the first Yes keyboardist (the
first Yes member at all) to have completed a music degree, is equally strong.
As Downes has often said, as Yes's fourth keyboardist, he had an easier
time than Trevor Horn. Jon Anderson is hard man to follow and, although
Horn's vocal style has some similarities, this change is the most noticeable.
However, personally, I think Horn's vocals are very strong. In some ways,
the more striking change is in his lyrical style. It is also worth
noting that Squire is much to the fore in the vocals too and effectively
joint lead on some songs.

After Tormato, the band re-grouped at the end of 1979 for sessions
in Paris with Roy Thomas Baker (who had produced Queen, most famously).
The sessions went badly and the resultant material was poor. White then
broke his foot in an (ice?)skating accident, which brought the sessions
to an end. All bar one of the known songs from these November sessions
have since been released. "Tango" and "Never Done Before" (known on bootlegs
as "Flower Girl") were included on In a Word, while four pieces
are included on the 2004 Rhino expanded & remastered release of Drama.
The one, known, unreleased, Paris song was "Everybody Loves You" (later
recorded by Jon Anderson for his solo album Song
of Seven); the first track listing seen for the 2004 Drama,
on hmv.co.jp in early Jan 2004 (nearly two months before the release data),
included "Everybody Loves You" as a seventeenth track, which may
indicate that it was planned, but it would not fit on an album already
over 79 minutes long.

Of the four songs on the Rhino Drama, "Golden
Age" was cannibalised by both Rick Wakeman (in the track "Maybe '80" on
Rock
n' Roll Prophet) and Jon Anderson (for parts of "Some Are Born"
on Song
of Seven), while "Dancing Through
the Light", was an early version of "Run Through the Light".

The traditional story is that, at this point, in Paris, Anderson and
Wakeman decided to leave the band. In actuality, the process was more complex.
The band returned to their respective homes, unable to agree on a future
direction. Squire, Howe and White soon re-grouped and started working on
new material, what was to form the basis to Drama. It appears that
they had soon further developed "Run Through the Light" and had early versions
of "Does It Really Happen?" and "Tempus Fugit". Five pieces were well-known
from bootlegs, the aforementioned three and two untitled pieces. An edit
of "Untitled I" was released as "Crossfire" on In a Word, while
"Untitled II" is on the Rhino Drama as "Song No. 4 (Satellite)".
"Song No. 4" was also tried by XYZ (an abortive project involving Squire,
White and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page around 1981) in a vocal form, known
variously as "Telephone Lies" or "Telephone Secrets". The Rhino Drama
also includes "Have We Really Got to Go Go Through This" from the same
period (but not previously bootlegged), a very early version of a piece
played live by the Drama band and traditionally known as "Go Through
This". "Does It Really Happen?" actually dates back further to around the
time of Tormato. An early version with Anderson and Wakeman is on
the Rhino Tormato as "Everybody's Song".

At some point in early 1980, Squire, Howe and White presented their
material to Anderson, although precisely how far they had got in developing
it is unclear, and there was some attempt to make a go of things. (There
seems also to have been some contact with Wakeman, although he seems not
to have met up with the other four.) However, Anderson and the Drama
trio could not agree on a musical direction: Anderson did not like their
material and they did not like Anderson's ideas. Moreover, there were divisions
in the band of a non-musical kind. Yes's finances had been worsening as
the seventies ended: a thorough accounting process headed by Brian Lane
suggested that Anderson had been spending more than his fair share. This
led to animosity with the other band members, particularly between Anderson
and Howe and between Jenny Anderson (Jon's wife) and Nikki Squire (Chris's
wife). Lane proposed a scheme to adjust payments from the forthcoming 1980
tour, but Anderson's own investigations blamed others for the band's poor
financial situation and he backed out of the proposed scheme. Squire and
Howe purportedly asked Anderson to leave if he would not pay back the money
he owed. Wakeman did not see a future for the band without Anderson and
went too. (The feud lasted some time: Nikki Squire was said to still be
furious with Anderson when he re-joined the band before 90125. However,
following the success of 90125, Atlantic 'discovered' that they
owed Yes a large sum from activity in the seventies, which helped explained
the band's dire financial situation in 1980 and Anderson and Howe settled
their differences, which would eventually lead to ABWH.)

Meanwhile, Horn and Downes, who had been working together for some years,
had recently found success with the single "Video Killed the Radio Star"
from the Buggles' debut album, The Age of Plastic.
Booked into the next door studio as Yes (or what was left of Yes) and sharing
the same manager in Lane, the two bands soon met. Horn and Downes were
both huge Yes fans and Horn soon tried to sell Yes a song, entitled "We
Can Fly from Here". Squire was interested and there was a session with
Horn, Downes, Squire and Bill Bruford to try the song. (Why Bruford? It
appears that White was temporarily unavailable and Bruford was filling
in.) There appears also to have been a later session with the full Drama
line-up performing this song. Many were surprised when a version of "We
Can Fly from Here" failed to appear on the Rhino remaster. Trevor Horn
has a recording and offered it to the band, but there was an unexplained
breakdown in communication between Warner/Rhino and Yes's management on
one side and Jill Sinclair (Horn's wife and manager) and the use of the
track was never sorted.

Soon Horn and Downes were working with Yes, although it was some time
before Squire actually broke the news to Horn that Anderson was not going
to appear, possibly because there was still some possibility he would.
However, with Yes having been spending money before they had generated
it, the band were already committed to a tour and an album was required.
Drama
was quickly put together, Horn hurrying to write lyrics. The tracking session
for "Tempus Fugit" on the Rhino remaster has Horn still developing a lyric.

Although the album is credited as having being written by all five band
members, most of the music was either from Horn/Downes or Squire/White,
with Horn doing most of the lyrics and, certainly, all five members were
involved in arrangements. "Machine Messiah", which Downes has said is his
favourite piece on the album, appears to be the most group written. Part
of the song appears to have been by Horn/Downes, but there were considerable
contributions from the others. Downes quotes Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
in his keyboard parts. White claims the odd-time middle instrumental section
as his. "White Car", a tribute to Gary Numan, is by Horn/Downes. The music
on this short piece was entirely produced on a Fairlight synthesizer and
Squire/Howe/White purportedly do not appear on the track.

"Does It Really Happen?", "Run Through the Light" and "Tempus Fugit",
as mentioned above, had been developed by Squire/Howe/White before they
hooked up with Horn/Downes. "Into the Lens" was a Buggles piece and their
own version, entitled "I am a Camera", was released on the subsequent Buggles
album Adventures in Modern Recording.
The lyrics are based on "Goodbye to Berlin" by Christopher Isherwood (1906-1986),
a semi-autobiographical novel about Berlin during the Weimar Republic.

"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording,
not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the
woman in the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be
developed, carefully printed, fixed." (from "Goodbye
to Berlin", 1939)

The novel (and the loosely-linked, "Mr Norris Changes Trains", 1935) were
turned into a play entitled "I am a Camera", which in turn was made into
a film (1955). The play was then converted into a musical, "Cabaret", also
filmed (1972).

Early dates on the tour went on sale before the new line up was announced
(possibly before the new line up had been determined). When the announcement
came, it was a huge surprise to the music press and to fans. Live, the
band played almost the whole album and two further pieces: the aforementioned
"We Can Fly from Here" (which the five Drama members appear to have
also demo'd) and "Go Through This". Earlier shows had a Downes solo spot
referred to as the "Man in a White Car Suite", while later shows included
a largely a cappella version of "White Car" as well. The one piece
omitted from the usual set list was "Run Through the Light", although one
report has it that this too was played live at least once. On tour, Horn
had to sing prior Yes numbers, a challenge particularly as Squire argued
against transposing the material to a lower key. Horn, who had never sung
live to such large audiences before, found the tour an enormous strain.
His voice worsened as the tour progressed and British audiences later on
the tour were more vocally hostile than the American audiences had been.
Boots from later on the tour reveal some poor singing (and Squire and Howe
on backing vocals were weak too), although on the Drama material,
Horn's live performances are generally better. Horn has said he has had
recurring nightmares about the experience since and he would not perform
again live until the late 1990s!

After the tour and Horn's decision to leave Yes, the band soon fell
apart. Squire and White announced they would be pursuing other directions.
Howe and Downes, the only remaining members, decided not to try to continue
the band (although they were soon playing together again in Asia). Early
in 1981, Yes ended. (HP, 28 Dec 03; revised 25 Feb
04)